A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 5 : Among the Stars, like Giants. Part 5 : The Three–Edged Sword addm-5

by Gareth D. Williams

  Yes, Cardinal.

  For all his power he is tied to his emotions, and that will destroy him. The female. Already she is dying. She was his reason for fighting, although he never knew it. Mortals understand so little of why they do what they do. He will lead them, and his flaws will become more apparent. He will destroy himself over time, as Chaos always does. You have served us well, in this as in all things. Do not let anger overwhelm you now.

  Yes, Cardinal.

  You questioned our will, and for that you are to be punished.

  Yes, Cardinal. I accept your decision.

  He is to live. Leave him, now. Before he wakes.

  Yes, Cardinal.

  Have no fear. Victory shall be ours, in time. He shall destroy himself.

  * * *

  Sebastian slowly and deliberately lowered his staff, taking two precise steps backwards. Sinoval still lay semi–conscious, twitching and shaking. It would be so easy. A single strike, and it would be done.

  No. The thought disappeared as soon as it arose. His Masters had ordered otherwise. They had ordered him to leave, and so he would leave.

  There would be another time. Sinoval would destroy himself.

  It was.... irritating, but necessary.

  Sebastian supposed he still had a long way to travel until he reached the perfection, physical, mental and spiritual, that he had been promised.

  He glanced briefly at Kats, still holding the gaping wound in her stomach, blood seeping into her robe and onto the floor. Carefully, he stepped around it and walked on, not giving her a second glance.

  * * *

  This is to all those who can hear us.

  We are your friends and your protectors. We are your saviours and your salvation. We want only the best for you.

  We want you to see this for yourselves.

  And so we say this. Those who desire to do so may leave this place. For one hour, we declare a cease–fire to enable this to happen. We will grieve for each and every one of you. Those who depart from this place shall be forever cast out of the light.

  To those who choose to remain, we offer perfection, we offer our protection. We are not your enemies, and we never have been. We are your friends.

  For those who have raised arms against us, it is not too late. Repent, come before us, and we may be merciful. Your actions will be considered and weighed and it may be that you may yet live. We never forget, but we can forgive.

  Those who continue to oppose us, we shall destroy. There is no mercy for those who continue to battle against the Light. There shall be no forgiveness for those who ally with the Darkness, who bring Chaos, who bring war where we seek only peace.

  You have one hour. Should this cease–fire be broken, we will respond in kind.

  You can trust these words. We do not lie.

  His death was regrettable, but necessary. You have seen our justice, and now you will see our mercy.

  Remember.

  We love you all.

  * * *

  It hadn't even hurt.

  It still didn't.

  Kats knew there must be pain, but it seemed a far and distant thing. Everything seemed distant to her. She was.... not floating, but drifting - at peace, in perfect emptiness.

  "Is this what it was like for you?" she whispered, looking around. "This sense of.... perfection?"

  Then she heard her name being called, louder than seemed possible here. She recognised the voice, and hesitated, but then she smiled.

  "Wait a little longer," she said. "Please, just a moment. There's one little thing I've got to do."

  She blinked her eyes, and now there was pain, stabbing in her gut, filling her mouth, burning in her heart. She cried out involuntarily with the sudden rush of sensation.

  "Kats!" he called again. She could see him, his face so near to hers. There was pain in his dark eyes, but more than that, there was something she had never thought to see there.

  Fear.

  "I am...." She coughed violently, bloody spittle filling the air. "I am here," she said again.

  "You're alive," he said. She felt his hands above her heart. "I can save you."

  "No," she said.

  "I can save you. I can save your soul, at least."

  "No."

  "But...."

  "No!" she said again, loudly. It sounded almost like a shout to her ears, the loudest sound she had ever heard. "We all die. Let me die."

  He did not reply in words, but his eyes said everything.

  "You have lived your entire life.... by your own rules. Please, respect mine now. Let me die."

  He closed his eyes bitterly, and nodded.

  "He's been waiting for me all this time.... We can't make him wait.... forever...."

  "You don't have to die," he said, his voice filled with bitterness.

  "Yes, I do. All mortals do. It is.... what makes us what we are."

  His hand held hers now, strong but cold. As cold as death itself. She raised her head as much as she could, as much as the pain would let her, and gently touched his cold lips with her own bloodstained ones.

  "Thank you," she breathed. "I.... always.... believed in you."

  "My lady," he said simply. Bitter, ashen words.

  Then she lowered her head, and the pain was gone.

  "There," she said afterwards. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, beloved. I am here now."

  * * *

  A great deal happened in that one hour. Once again my life became nothing but frantic rushing and running. I remember G'Kar talking to so many people, desperately urging them to accept something. Some did, and some did not. I did nothing, but remained close to him.

  And so the hour passed, and with it the Alliance. The cracks had been obvious before this. Perhaps they had even been there from the start, but that hour was the signal of the end.

  So many of them were gone. Either dead, like Lethke, Taan Churok and Sheridan, or in opposition to what the Alliance had become, like Na'Toth, Kulomani and Vizhak. I think that Delenn and G'Kar were the only ones who still held true to its ideals, and even they were distant and disaffected. G'Kar had seen his world and his friends die, and most of his dreams with them. He was a prophet then, but he had been a warrior in his youth and he knew that sometimes war was necessary. After the hour had passed he took me on board Cathedral, and made arrangements to see Sinoval.

  Delenn.... I never knew her as well as I knew G'Kar, although I still cherish the memory of the times I spent with her. I have spoken to those who knew her in her younger days, and there was one thing that a blind, aged human told me.

  Everyone who ever met her fell in love with her, at least a little.

  But the Delenn of that hour had become too hard, too brittle. She no longer believed in peace, but she could not accept that Sinoval had been right in advocating war. She clung with grim determination to the belief that she was a healer, in spite of the realisation that there was nothing left for her to heal.

  G'Kar was frantically busy during that hour. Delenn, on the other hand, was not. She did one thing, and one thing only.

  L'Neer of Narn, Learning at the Prophet's Feet.

  * * *

  "You will return him to me."

 

  "I did not come here to be denied. You will return him to me."

 

  "I served you all my life. I gave you everything I had. I bathed in your light, and obeyed your every word. For you I went to Z'ha'dum and allowed myself and my child to die. For you I allowed the Alliance to remain as it was, without facing up to the problems.

  "And you say you owe me nothing?

  "I say you owe me everything. But simply return him to me, and I shall leave, and not fight you - for I am no warrior, and I am sick of you. Return him to me and let me disappear. Or I shall fight you with everything I have."

&nb
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  "Because I loved him once, so intensely and so passionately that I had no room in my heart for anything else, and whatever passed between us, that memory still exists. He was a good man, and if he had not been manipulated and controlled he could have been a great man.

  "Because he means so much to me and to the people who have survived this, I will not let you throw his body into space and abandon it there."

 
 
 

  "I do not want your salvation.

  "Or your love."

  * * *

  But she was not the only one to lose someone she loved. Only the most visible....

  "I am a warrior. I am Minbari. I am of the Wind Swords.

  "We are cold, the cold of stone, the cold of winter. A hard people and a harsh land.

  "We were feared because we knew no fear. We would use the bodies of our brothers as weapons if we had to, and know that they would use our bodies as weapons should we fall.

  "They called our armies the coming of the cold, and they feared us, because we feared nothing.

  "No loss, no grief, no sorrow, no pain could deflect us from our task.

  "The coming of the cold."

  A pause.

  A long pause.

  Longer.

  "I am Sinoval."

  He was holding her cold hand in his. The bier on which he had placed her body was cold. Her body was cold.

  "My lady," he whispered softly.

  He slumped to the floor against the bier, still holding her hand. He pressed the cold hand to the side of his face.

  "My lady," he said again. "My lady, my lady, my lady."

  No loss.

  No pain.

  No grief.

  No sorrow.

  Could deflect them from their task.

  My lady....

  * * *

  "Is it done? Did you do it? Did you do what was so damned important that you'd risk delaying a little longer and almost getting us killed?"

  "It's done."

  "Was it worth it?"

  "I don't know. No, I do. Yes, it was. It was worth it."

  "Is there anything else we should stick around for? Anything else that's so important that I can't know about it?"

  "No. I'm sorry. I should have told you."

  "All right. So what was it?"

  "I went to see Mr. Edgars."

  "What?"

  "I convinced him to kill himself. It's amazing what you can do with the right choice of words."

  "What? This.... Why? Do you have any idea what Security will be doing? They'll be out.... We'll never get off–planet."

  "It was suicide. That's what they'll see, and if they see more, then.... fine."

  "Oh, for the love of.... Why? Can you even tell me that?"

  "He did me a good turn. Several."

  "That's it? You know he never cared about you, or your cause."

  "Any more than you do. No, that was unfair. I know he never cared, but I had to repay him anyway. I have to repay my debts. It proves I'm still a man."

  "As opposed to a woodlouse?"

  "As opposed to a corpse that just happens to be able to walk and talk."

  "....

  "I see."

  "No, you don't."

  "No, I don't. Come on, we'd better go."

  "Yes.

  "We should go."

  * * *

  Eldest.

  Ah. There you are. I have been expecting you.

  Disturbing words, Eldest. We.... do not understand.

  No, you don't. That is the first piece of real wisdom I think I have ever heard from you.

  You helped them against us. Why? All we have ever wanted is for them to be perfect. That was our purpose.

  You still do not see. You are right. You do not understand. I doubt if you ever will.

  You still defy us, Eldest.

  I do what I must. If the Younger Races need help, then it is for us to provide that help. If it is necessary that we intervene directly, then so be it.

  We do not see why you defy us, Eldest. We revere you. We venerate you. We worship you. Word of your betrayal will be received with great sorrow.

  I would rather it was received with great thought.

  Eldest, we will remember you always....

  What do you mean?

  When you are gone.

  * * *

  They waited, in their charnel worlds. Fire and fury had cleansed their universe once. The Lords of Death, they were called, for they worshipped Death with a fervour that eclipsed everything else.

  Once they had glimpsed another universe, but the doors had closed before they had had a real chance to see it.

  They were patient.

  They had all of eternity to wait.

  As the walls between them and their prey grew thin.

  And weak.

  And malleable.

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